Metroparks' longest serving commissioner steps down

Most people don't know Fred Rzepka, but they see his work every time they drive through the Cleveland Metroparks or visit the park system's zoo.

This month that work comes to an end as Rzepka completes his last term on the parks board and 24 years of service. The longest serving commissioner in the history of the 93-year-old Metroparks has asked that he not be reappointed to a ninth term.

During his decades of service he helped clean up a scandal and restore the Metroparks' reputation. Rzepka, always willing to share credit, says longtime executive director Vern Hartenburg deserves the praise.

What is certain is that Rzepka had a key role in bringing Hartenburg to Cleveland, and together they guided the Metroparks as the park system expanded and the zoo added several major attractions.

Rzepka, who was born in Poland, and much of his family eluded the Holocaust, only to end up interned by the Soviets in Siberia. After the Germans invaded Poland, the Soviets freed Rzepka and his family.

In the postwar years, those who survived World War II made their way here, where Rzepka and a brother made their fortunes as builder/developers.

"There's no American who can appreciate America like a foreigner," Rzepka said in his modest office in Bedford Heights. "We are a unique country."

People interviewed for this story said Rzepka's guiding principle was "to give something back."

Probate Judge Francis J. Talty gave him a chance to do just that in 1986, appointing him to be one of three commissioners charged with governing the Cleveland Metroparks.

Rzepka's quiet competence and willingness to share credit are two reasons that his is not a household name.

Another is that the park system is free of the scandal and financial mismanagement that characterized it when he first joined the unpaid Board of Commissioners.

Rzepka acknowledges that he pressed the Metroparks to become the first system with a treasurer and demanded an independent audit that uncovered elements of the scandal.

But he credits a lot of the cleanup to Hartenburg.

In 1988, Hartenburg was in the running to become executive director. Rzepka found out that the park system board forHennepin County, Minn., had declined to reappoint him to the top job there.

Rzepka investigated on his own and determined it was all political. Hartenburg "served a board that is larger than ours, and they are elected. He banned board members from putting campaign signs in the parks."

"That's why they did not rehire him," Rzepka said. But that kind of integrity was just what the Metroparks needed -- especially then.

One of the first challenges confronting Rzepka and Hartenburg was the nearly bungled RainForest project.

It began under Hartenburg's predecessor, was designed by an unqualified architect, and the park system had to pay more than $1 million to have it redesigned.

Everyone credits Rzepka's background as a builder and developer for turning the disaster into a regional asset. Everyone but Rzepka.

The RainForest "was where Vern really put his teeth into it," Rzepka said, noting that Hartenburg's only professional experience was as a conservationist. "And within six months he knew more about construction than I did."

Hartenburg has a slightly different perspective, crediting Rzepka with being a mentor.

"Fred was a very willing teacher, and at the same time I was a willing student," Hartenburg said. "Fred was always willing to take the time but not just to give the answers."

Hartenburg said Rzepka was like his old math teachers. "He'd say, 'Show me your work and how you got your answer.' "

Rzepka has only a high school education but speaks five languages. "He has incredible intuitive and learned knowledge," Hartenburg said.

Those traits led Hartenburgto defer to Rzepka, even when he was in doubt.

"In working with him for 22 years, he was never wrong," Hartenburg said.

Consider a minor piece of legislation the commissioners took up earlier this year. It involved modifying restrictions on land owned by the city of Cleveland, near both the airport and parkland. The city needed to put in additional parking for airport employees.

Rzepka took one look at an aerial photo and immediately estimated how many parking places the city would gain.

The decades he has spent in the real estate business would give anyone the ability to make such an estimate, Rzepka said.

Others recall how he has managed to save the park system millions of dollars with his ability to press contractors into reducing their bids, or increasing what they were going to do for the parks at no extra cost.

During Rzepka's time on the board, Hartenburg said,the Metroparks added 3,000 acres, including four new reservations.

Rzepka said Hartenburg and Richard Kerber, the parks' planning director, played significant roles.

He also credits Judge John Donnelly, retired presiding judge of Cuyahoga County Probate Court, for helpingto broker a deal that saw the West Creek Reservation transfer from the city of Parma to the Metroparks.

While Metroparks managers worked to make the parks a reality, Hartenburg said, "It was really Fred's vision." Rzepka recognized that most of the Metroparks land was in the suburbs and wanted to provide land and park services for the inner city and inner-ring suburbs as well.

Steve Taylor, director of the Metroparks Zoo since 1989, credits Rzepka for insisting that all new exhibits be of the best quality and built with the best materials, including the RainForest, Australian Adventure (Rzepka lived in Australia for 11 years), Wolf Wilderness and the African Elephant Crossing, set to open in May.

Taylor also said that Rzepka always insisted on paying his own way. He might ask for passes to the zoo for family and friends, but the request "would always be followed by a generous donation to the Cleveland Zoological Society (a private nonprofit that helps underwrite zoo projects)."

Hartenburg, the parks' longtime executive director, announced his retirement last year. Earlier this year, at Rzepka's urging, the park commissioners selected Brian Zimmerman as the new executive director.

"He's a new star coming up," Rzepka said. "I see a lot in him that I saw in Vern Hartenburg."

"I treasured the years there," Rzepka said. "But there comes a time that you have to say goodbye." He felt that the regime change at the park system made it the right time to go.

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.